TaskManager Alternative That Actuall Tells What Processes Using CPU?

  • Thread starter (PeteCresswell)
  • Start date
P

(PeteCresswell)

TaskMan is making me crazy.

I'm trying to find out who/what is hogging my CPU, but TaskMan |
Processes isn't even close.

Whatever it is seems tb either buried in "System Idle Process" or
not reported at all.

Yet TaskMan | Performance reports continuous 50-100% usage.

Is there a product out there that actually tells me what I need
to know?
 
V

VanguardLH

(PeteCresswell) said:
TaskMan is making me crazy.

I'm trying to find out who/what is hogging my CPU, but TaskMan |
Processes isn't even close.

Whatever it is seems tb either buried in "System Idle Process" or
not reported at all.

Yet TaskMan | Performance reports continuous 50-100% usage.

Is there a product out there that actually tells me what I need
to know?

System Idle Process
The keyword is "idle". See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/idle.

Another user that cannot figure out what "idle" means in "System Idle
Process", and doesn't bother to Google on it to find:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Idle_Process
http://www.osnn.net/windows-desktop-systems/783-system-idle-process-explained.html

If the total usage of all processes is to add up to 100% then SOMETHING
has to show the remainder. If the System Idle Process is 50-100%, well,
then your CPU is 50-100% *idle*. The more idle is your CPU the *less*
it is busy. It is the OTHER (and active) processes that total up to
0-50% of the CPU usage and you'll have to look at them individually to
determine which ones stay busy all the time and just how busy they are.
You didn't list those active processes that were totalling somewhere
from 0% to 50% CPU usage.

Perhaps what you meant to ask about are all the services that get rolled
into a single occurrence of svchost.exe (there may be multiple instances
of svchost.exe loaded at at time, each with a different suite of
services rolled into them). If so, read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svchost

SysInternals' Process Explorer is handy for looking into what services
got rolled inside a svchost.exe instance.
 
T

Tim Meddick

If you download the [free] program: Process Explorer, which is very much
more detailed than the default Task Manager (and can be configured to take
the place of the Window's Task Manger, as when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del,
etc.,).

One thing in particular, I think you would find useful, is the ability to
point your mouse at a "peak", or at any part of the CPU usage graph, you
will get an "Info Tip" telling you what process caused the increase at that
point.

I recommend that you at least, give it a trial run. There's no
installation, as it runs from a single [.exe] file from anywhere (including
a portable drive).

Download "Process Explorer" from the link below :
http://download.sysinternals.com/Files/ProcessExplorer.zip

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :)
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

Per Cheng Heng:

Thanks Cheng. Thanks Tim.

Yes, I think this is going to be helpful. In fact that might be
the understatement of the week.... -)

First thing I notice is something called "Hardware Interrupts"
taking about 50% of CPU. It varies a little - like 36 to 50,
but most of the time it is 50%.

From what I've read so far, this is not normal. People seem tb
zeroing in on the CD drive's having been set to PIO mode by
Windows once Windows has encountered more than a certain number
of errors.

To wit:
"Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a device after
encountering certain errors during data transfer operations. If
more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off
DMA and use only PIO mode on that device."

Accordingly, I yanked the DVD drive and the Brand-X SATA card it
was connected to and guess what? Yessssss! Interrupts have
fallen off to less than 3% CPU.

Time will tell, I guess. This is a Windows Home Server box and
the symptoms are around video rendering and response time of a
kind of Tivo-on-steroids app called SageTV.

Once I confirm that SageTV has stopped acting up, I'll try
re-introducing just the card... and then the drive and see what
happens.

Thanks again.
 
P

(PeteCresswell)

5Per (PeteCresswell):
Once I confirm that SageTV has stopped acting up, I'll try
re-introducing just the card... and then the drive and see what
happens.

Nope..... Interrupts crept back up to 50% within a few minutes.

But I think I'm on to something.

Now it's a matter of figuring out how to find out which of the
other devices (SATA hard drives), if any, are being changed from
DMA into PIO mode by Windows.

Right now, unencumbered by any depth of knowledge, I'm putting my
money on a drive that's on it's way out.
 

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